


bloom

by cafe_au_late



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Big angst, Character Death, F/F, Hurt No Comfort, You Have Been Warned, big sad, it's very sad i'm serious, no happy ending, polyam - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25417036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafe_au_late/pseuds/cafe_au_late
Summary: Dorothea always knew that her heart bloomed when she loved.Dorothea always knew that her heart would get her in trouble so deep that she would not have the power to fix things.She had too little faith that the goddess would fix things. But perhaps, what little she had would be enough.
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault/Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Petra Macneary
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	bloom

**Author's Note:**

> This is very very heavily inspired by that one piece of fanart by denimcatfish (their work is beautiful btw please go check them out)
> 
> https://twitter.com/denimcatfish/status/1282289334947905541?s=20
> 
> There's a break in the chapter and that's kind of where I envision that art would fit in.

Dorothea always knew that her heart would get her in trouble so deep that she would not have the power to fix things.

When Dorothea loved, she loved openly and freely, the emotions and feelings pouring from her very soul in a torrential current that threatened to sweep her off of her feet. But she welcomed it. She felt so alive in those moments, those moments that were so few and far between.

In those moments, she could forget briefly about the worries of surviving, letting the emotions buoy her.

Dorothea always knew that her heart bloomed when she loved.

It was no surprise to her when she found that she loved more than one person. Her heart welcomed it. There was room for more than one soul after all, nestled safely between the still blossoming petals of her heart. There was nothing more that she wanted than to provide for her heart’s desires the safety and shelter and warmth and care and love that she had never known as a child.

But Dorothea’s heart was but a fragile blossom, blooming with love- how could she possibly provide warmth in a storm and hold up the sky when the slightest wind would tear the petals from her heart, leaving her bare and broken in the cold.

It didn’t stop her from loving anyway. 

It was easy- shared glances of longing, time spent together in secluded corners working on assignments together, bodies pressed too close against each other when they sat down to be appropriate.

Petra was brilliant in ways that Dorothea couldn’t begin to describe. As much as Petra struggled with her words sometimes, Dorothea found herself increasingly at a loss for words for how amazing Petra was. Sure, the future queen of Brigid was beautiful and talented with a bow, but she had a way of looking at things that made Dorothea see everything in a whole new light. There was such a gentleness and warmth to Petra that made Dorothea feel like shattering into thousands of pieces of coloured glass. Petra, who cradled Dorothea’s heart with such care and tenderness that took Dorothea’s breath away.

Petra who understood some of the hurt that Dorothea felt when people’s gazes pierced right through her, judging her, looking down at her. Petra who soothed her racing mind, assuring her that after everything, Dorothea would always have a home with her, that she would never live the cold of the streets again.

_“Dorothea.”_

_“Petra?”_

_“What would you be doing after we are having graduated?”_

_“I want us all to live together. Somewhere warm. I hate the cold. Somewhere where the sun shines all the time and flowers bloom. We can all lie together like this, watch the sunrise until the sunset.”_

_“You are wanting to watch both?”_

_“Yes. Then we will have spent the whole day lounging around together. What else could I possibly want?”_

Petra looked at her with such devotion in her eyes that for a brief moment, Dorothea suddenly understood how faith could pull someone back from death’s door, stitching together broken bones and torn flesh to leave unmarred skin behind again.

It was also difficult- admiring gazes from afar, hesitant brushes of fingers against each other, meals shared together behind the safety of closed doors where they could sit and eat and talk freely.

Ingrid was everything that Dorothea imagined the knight in shining armour would be from her childhood tales. She was chivalrous and polite- gentlemanly even. She had ideals and hopes and dreams and seemingly endless perseverance to attain those things. As she grew older, Dorothea began to understand the minds of the rich and powerful and had begun to think that those knights from those fairy tales were simply that, a fairy tale. But here Ingrid was, every bit the vision that Dorothea had though was lost to time. Ingrid, who stood tall and proud in the face of danger or hardship, her resolve never wavering, giving Dorothea the strength to stand up again when she thought that she could not.

Ingrid who understood the worry that Dorothea felt when she wondered if she would amount to anything or if she was forever destined to chase after stability and security. Ingrid who understood the pressures of the world pulling them in different directions and offered Dorothea a warm hand and the support to put her back on her feet when the winds had battered her to her knees.

_“Dorothea?”_

_“Ingrid.”_

_“Have you ever imagined what your life would be like when you’re old and grey?”_

_“Of course. Why do you ask?”_

_“I just have never imagined myself living past my prime.”_

_“Oh, Ingrid.”_

_“I’m not saying that for sympathy or anything. I just always thought that I would inevitably die on the battlefield, serving my nation, giving my all as a knight.”_

_“Is that how you want to go?”_

_“I don’t think so anymore.”_

_“What do you want then, Ingrid?”_

_“Could you tell me what you want?”_

_“I want to be old and grey, surrounded by family, maybe all the orphans that we’ll adopt.”_

_“We?”_

_  
_ _“I want you to be there of course. I want all of us together.”_

  
  


Ingrid held her in her arms with such conviction that for a split second, Dorothea suddenly understood how faith could move someone miles across a battlefield in a single heartbeat, transcending all obstacles and space itself to bring them to your side.

Dorothea felt whole with Petra and Ingrid, her heart still growing and learning. It had been a long and arduous journey to get to where she was. But she felt whole, she felt at home.

Dorothea thought that maybe she had finally figured it out, 

  
  


They found themselves separated by the war, torn apart to opposing sides.

  
  


The war was hard. There was so much bloodshed, so many lives lost and not nearly enough faith to go around to stitch wounds together or move the injured from the frontlines to the medical tents. 

Dorothea’s hands trembled, these hands that had caused so much destruction and death, scarred deeply by all of the times she cast thoron. The lightning which bloomed so easily at her fingertips now burned deep into her skin. Everytime she tried to muster up that feeling of healing, of faith, all she could feel was the crackle of lightning or the roar of meteors, stars falling from heaven at her bidding. She had no faith left, perhaps maybe she never had enough.

She couldn’t find that warmth in her heart to believe that she could heal even the smallest of wounds. She couldn’t find the strength in her heart to believe that she could transcend even the small distance between her and Petra, who sat curled into her side.

So Dorthea fled from the medical tents, unable to wash the feeling of blood on her hands and death in her heart away. Everyday she feared that the next body to be carried in would be Petra or the next lightning charred pegasus plummeting from the sky would be Ingrid’s

When would this war end? Her heart wilted, the petals drenched in blood, marred by wounds.

All that she wanted was to hold these two together in her arms, in her heart and never let go.

Not even a war could stop her.

_Please Sothis, if my faith amounts anything at all, let me see them together again._

* * *

  
  


Dorothea fell to the earth with a sickening thud, hands blooming with branching lightning scars from the overuse of magic in a war she had long hoped to leave behind, scrabbling uselessly at the lance and arrows that pierced through her body, like a butterfly, pinned horrifically to a bleak background. Every breath felt like it was escaping through the tears in her flesh. Blood was bubbling up on her lips, her words trapped in each bubble, never to be heard.

She was only dimly aware of hands on her body. Frantic, pressing against her to stop the bleeding. Voices, muted, like they were a world away, trapped on the other side of the glass case that kept her form pinned. 

Two faces appear in her vision, the only pieces of clarity in a world that was fading too fast. 

_Ingrid. Petra._

All she had wanted was to see them together again.

Now she finally had.

Her last wish granted, Dorothea smiled, 

_Sothis, take care of them for me. Let what little faith I have mend their hurt._

In death, Dorothea bloomed. Red blossoming across the dirt, a rose painted into the earth by her blood. These implements of war were hidden thorns in her sides, digging into the hands that frantically tried to keep the rose from blooming further.

In death, Dorothea bloomed to face the warmth of the sun, the rose chasing the tail of something it didn’t understand but so desperately craved. Her body a lifeless rose plucked from the rosebush, a beautiful flower destined to wilt. Her spirit soared, reaching toward the sun.

She finally left the war behind.

It was time to rest.

**Author's Note:**

> (Also shout out to the Fodlan_Olympics writers chat for enabling and helping out with all my angst as of late. I blame them and myself (no matter how much you disavow me hehe))
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading! Please stay safe out there.


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